A funny thing happened on the way to giving birth
by emeraldeyedirishdaughter
Summary: Sort of AU. Rose is married to the Tenth Doctor and they are expecting their first child very, very, soon but there is a little bit of trouble on the way to Jack and Cardiff.


**_Story written for a friend's birthday. It is unbetaed so all mistakes are my own. I did a spell check but if anything glaringly obvious sticks out please let me know. It's purely fluff so any techno babble and Judoon conversations that do not make sense... well it's hardly canon anyway. Enjoy._**

**_Characters: Ten/Rose, the Judoon, later mention of Jack and Martha.  
Summary: Sort of AU. Rose is married to the Doctor and they are expecting their first child very very soon but there is a little bit of trouble on the way to Jack and Cardiff._**

"Now if you dampen the bio system and filter out the organics of the interspecies ordnances, you should get the results listed in the hypothesis."

"Doctor."

"Yup, just a few minutes Rose, I'm a bit busy," he said without turning around to see what she wanted. "I'm showing Rilla how to ..."

"Doctor please, it's important!" pleaded Rose.

"Oh okay," he replied impatiently, but still did not move away from the broken machinery. "Look give me one minute to reverse the polarity of the …"

"DOCTOR! Get your alien backside over here. My waters just broke!"

"Oh Crap!"

He rushed over to where Rose was sitting and saw for himself that she was right. Suddenly he found himself having a panic attack which was unusual in itself for had he not been a father before? Ah, but then his children had been produced in the looms and never by natural birth. Rose was human, not Gallifreyan so neither of them knew exactly what to expect, although up till now apart from a few supplements to keep Rose healthy and a longer gestation period everything seemed to be okay. That still did not ease his anxiety.

As usual when he panicked he went into overdrive. "Righto Rose, let's get you to Cardiff and to Jack. I'll call Martha and she can be waiting for us when we get there. I just need one minute to say goodbye to the Masitarantins." He was gone only briefly before returning to help her out of her chair and into the TARDIS. Quickly putting the TARDIS into the Vortex he then helped Rose up onto the jump seat. As he did so a grimace of pain crossed her face.

"Doctor," cried out Rose. "I'm not sure I am going to make it to Torchwood. The contractions are already starting. Seems like our little time babe wants out as soon as possible."

"Well, I can try to talk to our child and ask he or she to stay in there a little longer," he ventured.

"What? no; wait you mean you can do that?" exclaimed Rose a little breathlessly.

"Uh yeah, but I can only ask the baby for a small delay. Ten, fifteen minutes at the most. Much longer and it could be dangerous for him or her," he said with a trembling voice.

Rose took all of half a second to give her answer. "No Doctor, what will be will be. I won't put our baby in any danger. If he or she is born on the way we'll cope." She laughed despite the pain of another contraction. "After all I did marry a Doctor." This made him laugh as well and eased somewhat the anxiety in his stomach.

The TARDIS was racing through the Vortex as fast as her ancient power source would allow. Nothing or no one could stop her. She had to get the human called Rose to their destination in Cardiff so that the time babe inside her could be born safely. No one or nothing … well except for that. If she had been human she would have been swearing. She set off an alarm to notify the Doctor that she had been ordered to stop and exit the Vortex by command of the Judoon law enforcement.

From inside the TARDIS came the dark voice of the Doctor as he processed the message from his ship "WHAT?"

"Doctor, what is it?" asked Rose in a fearful voice. Another contraction would be due soon and now she was a little scared.

The Doctor immediately replaced his terror with a wide grin for Rose's benefit. It would not do to have the mother of his unborn child scared to death. Giving birth was enough to deal with. "It's okay Rose; nothing I can't handle. We need to leave the Vortex for a little while that's all."

Rose however was not fooled even for a minute. "Doctor, we've been together now for 5 years and married for two of them. Don't you think I have learned a few things about you by now." If the situation was different she would have laughed at the expression on his face but now was not the time. "Tell me Doctor, what's wrong?" A moment after she finished speaking the TARDIS beeped to let them know they had landed.

"Rose, outside those doors are a law enforcement squad called the Judoon. Martha and I met them once before and believe me if you are on the wrong side of the law with them, then your in big trouble." He stopped short of telling her that it was the sort of trouble that got you executed for just about any crime. He also failed to mention to her that the Judoon also worked for the Shadow Proclamation which was not a good thing as he and Donna... well not Donna exactly... just him really, had run away from their call to war against the Daleks five years ago. Rose, however, did not need to know that.

He turned his attention to his wife once more. "Rose stay here please. Whatever happens you must stay in here and look after our baby. The TARDIS will help protect you." His voice softened as he saw the terror and sorrow in her eyes. "It will be all right my precious Rose. This is our first child and I will not let anything happen to destroy our happiness," he promised and Rose knew by the intent in his voice that he would even face regeneration again to keep his promise. He lowered his head till it was pressing against her swollen abdomen and kissed it before raising himself level to her face, taking her mouth in a passionate kiss. "I love you," he whispered to her before turning from her to exit out the TARDIS door.

As another contraction ripped its way through her body, Rose began to cry. She was not particularly religious but she prayed now. She prayed for her husband and for her child who was striving to exit her womb and gain entrance to the real world. She knew the Doctor had held back information; she loved and hated him for it at the same time but she would forgive him anything as long as he came back to her.

Outside the TARDIS the Doctor found himself face to face with the Judoon constable who began to read him his rights, limited though they were, and the nature of the crime that he had committed.

"Jo fo so to go mo teesho bo to." (You have broken the law.)

"No go zo to co flo teesho" (What law would that be?)

"Jo Spo wro to flo go slow ho jo juputepo lego" (Your space ship was going too fast; you ignored the speed sign.)

"juputepo lego no go … sezso mechoo, talkto univero so?" (What speed sign? … look can you switch on your universal translator?)

With a nod the Judoon constable moved his hand to his chest and switched on a button. When he next spoke the Doctor could understand every word as it was spoken in English. In return every word the Doctor uttered would be translated back into Judoon for the constable.

"Right, now we can understand each other without all the problems of interracial language barriers, let's get down to it. So you say I ignored a speed sign. Since when did the vortex have speed signs?" he asked.

"Since two days ago. After the planets were stolen 5 years ago patches of space are still being repaired so it has fallen to us to put up signs asking time travellers to go slow in that area so as not to disturb the rebuilding of the solar systems. You did not take notice of the sign so therefore you are guilty and must be punished. You will be executed." growled the constable. He pulled out his weapon and pointed it at the Doctor.

"Now wait... wait just a minute," pleaded the Doctor. "You haven't heard all the evidence yet hmm." Deep inside he was terrified but he needed to keep his head, in more ways then one. "I honestly didn't see the sign and shouldn't you at least give people some warning before putting a sign up. You know send an email or something; I don't know, you could broadcast it over the sub wave network. It's still going thanks to the Mr Copper foundation ..."

"Silence" bellowed the Judoon. "Evidence is useless, you are procrastinating; punishment will take place now ..."

"Please, just wait," begged the Doctor. "Please, I have my wife in my ship and she is in labour with our first born child. If I don't get her somewhere safe both she and the babe could die."

"You lie... this is another attempt at escaping your punishment."

"No, it isn't; believe me. Look, I give you my word. Let me take my wife to safety and then I promise on the seal of Rassilon that I will come back and pay the price of punishment." Even as he spoke the words he knew he would go through with it. Regeneration was better than having Rose and the babe die and having to deal with that guilt for the rest of his life.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the Judoon constable. "Take me to your wife and let me see if you tell the truth," he requested gruffly. This was highly irregular but something in the constable told him that the being before him was no ordinary alien.

"Gladly," replied the Doctor, "but please, don't frighten her. She has never met your kind before and with her being in such a delicate state I do not wish to have her upset."

"Your wife has not broken any laws; she will have nothing to fear from me. You may introduce me to her as Constable Irolis Bedactor."

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and walked in ahead of the constable. He could not see Rose on the jump seat and started to panic. He called out to her and from down the corridor came her voice, very quiet and considerably upset. "Doctor, please come quickly," she begged.

He found her on her bed and in agony. The contractions were, by her judgement around eight minutes apart but were growing more frequent as time went on. This time babe was in a definite hurry.

"Rose, love I'm here," he whispered to her softly. "Sweetheart, I'm going to go into your mind to partially block off the pain receptors. I can't block them entirely but it will help a little. I'm afraid its probably too late to give you anything medical."

"No, I don't want any drugs anyway. We don't know what effect they might have on the baby since it's part Gallifreyan," she said bravely.

The Doctor gazed at her in total awe. He was so lost in his thoughts about his wonderful wife that he had all but forgotten the Judoon constable standing just inside the doorway until he heard an audible grunt. Before Rose could panic he took her hand and beckoned for the constable to come across the room. "Rose," he said softly but with a firm tone, "meet Constable Bedactor."

Rose tried to sit up but the constable with a matching hand signal stopped her before she could rise. It was just as well as another contraction started; and this one was only 6 minutes since the last. Thankfully due to the Doctors earlier actions it was easier to bear but she grimaced all the same. Perhaps it was the look on her face or the loving interaction between the female human and her alien husband but the constable reached a decision. He turned to the Doctor and pointed towards the door.

The Doctor kissed Rose on the forehead. "I'll be right back my Rose," he murmured in her ear before following the constable back into the console room.

"It seems in the circumstances, that you had good reason to speed. I myself am father to 3 young ones and know what can happen to a mans brain when faced with the forthcoming birth of a child. It is highly unusual but I will let you off with a warning. Now go and get your wife and child to safety. I will alert my brothers to watch out for your ship and let you pass should you encounter anymore damaged areas of space."

"Thank you," replied the Doctor wholeheartedly. "Thank you, more times than I can possibly say. Now without sounding rude, can you please depart my ship so I can leave."

The Judoon constable grunted or laughed. It was very hard to tell but he exited the TARDIS doors without so much as a goodbye. After his departure the Doctor swiftly put the TARDIS back into the vortex again before going to rejoin Rose. As he walked to her room he too prayed to any divine power that might be listening. Praying that his ship might be fast enough to reach Jack, Martha and Torchwood in time.

Thankfully they did reach Cardiff in time though whether that was because some God took pity on him or because the TARDIS broke the fastest recorded speed for passing through the Vortex remained a mystery. Certainly the latter deserved some extra special treatment in the not too distant future. As the Doctor helped Rose out of the TARDIS and into Torchwood's hub he cast a silent thank you to his beautiful ship.

They had no sooner passed through the TARDIS doors when Jack and Martha raced up to greet them. The Doctor and Jack between them managed to help Rose to a comfortable bed after which Jack discreetly departed leaving Martha and the Doctor to observe Rose's progress.

"You got her here just in time Doctor," said Martha. "Cutting it a bit fine there you know," she admonished.

"Weeell we had a spot of trouble on the way. You know me Martha, never one to have a dull life."

"Yes, well when this baby is here life is going to get a lot more interesting," piped up Rose from the bed, "and I believe that will be sooner than you think cause … ooh … here comes another contraction … and …. oh it hurts … Doctor it hurts; even with that partial pain block you did earlier" she cried.

Martha took one of her hands, while the Doctor took the other. He had tears in his eyes. "I know love; my precious, brilliant Rose. I feel your pain up here," and he tapped his temple. "I am so sorry that you have to go through this but you're not alone. I love you and I promise you that it will all be worth it."

And so it was. Thirty minutes later Rose had the urge to push and shortly there after their son was born and as his parents and friends rejoiced so did the TARDIS. In the threads of time she could see that this precious child was just the first. There were many surprises in store for the Time lord and his wife but that was the future. It was the present that was important and right now it was fantastic.


End file.
